LightBurn Bridge Setup
Follow the steps below to connect to your laser using a LightBurn Bridge.
Note
The LightBurn Bridge is only compatible with lasers using Ruida controllers.
Ruida Controller Configuration¶
The LightBurn Bridge is pre-configured to connect to a laser configured with an IP address of 10.0.3.3. In the Ruida control panel, set the IP of your laser to this value, then connect a network cable from the controller to the Raspberry Pi, and plug in the Pi with its power adapter. If you need to change the IP address, see LightBurn Bridge Advanced Setup — Configuration Options, and please note the caveats to doing this, listed there.
In LightBurn, in the Devices screen, click LightBurn Bridge to set it up:
Connecting the LightBurn Bridge to Your Network¶
LightBurn will open the LightBurn Bridge discovery wizard to guide you through the setup.
On your computer or a mobile device, use the WiFi settings to find the LightBurn Bridge device, and connect to it:
Note
The access point name you find will typically have a four-character random string at the end of the name, such as LightBurn Bridge E4B7. This is to prevent conflicts if you have multiple LightBurn Bridge devices in the same location.
When you've selected the LightBurn Bridge access point, click Next.
Note
You may also configure the WiFi manually, as shown on the Advanced Setup page.
Configuring the Bridge in LightBurn¶
Now you need to tell the LightBurn Bridge which WiFi network to connect to, and give it the network password. In most cases, the configuration page on the Bridge will open automatically. If it does not, browse to http://192.168.42.1 as shown in the wizard page below. If you want to use your PC to configure the Bridge, click the button shown to open your browser to the correct page:
Setting the WiFi name and password¶
In the browser window, you'll see a page like this:
Select your WiFi network from the list of options, enter your password, then click the Connect button at the bottom. You'll see a message appear near the top, telling you that the bridge is connecting to your WiFi network. You can now close the browser window and go back to the LightBurn wizard.
If you were using your PC to configure the LightBurn Bridge, re-connect the PC to your WiFi network if you need to.
Finding the LightBurn Bridge From Your PC¶
LightBurn will now scan your network, looking for connected devices, to find the new LightBurn Bridge. You'll see a progress bar appear as it does this:
If LightBurn is able to connect to the Bridge device, and the Bridge was able to talk to your laser, you should see something like this:
If everything looks good, click Add Device, and you'll be taken to the setup screen for the device, asking you to enter the name, check the size, and so on.
If the either the Bridge or the laser are not found, you may need to change the IP address on your laser to 10.0.3.3 (the default for the LightBurn Bridge), or, optionally, you can configure the bridge to use a different address for your laser.
Name and Work Area Size¶
You can name the laser, which is very useful if you have more than one, or just leave it as is.
You must set the size of the work area for your laser so that LightBurn can try to prevent things from going out of bounds. If you don't know the exact size, you can change this later in the Device Settings page.
Laser Origin¶
The origin setting is where the zero point of your X and Y Axes meet. If you get this wrong, you can change it later in Device Settings page. This setting also controls the orientation of the output — if it's wrong, the output from your laser may be mirrored or upside down.
With a Ruida controller, the origin corner will be the corner that the laser head seeks out when you power it up.
All Done!¶
That's it — the final page will show you a summary of your choices. You can go back and fix anything if necessary, or click Finish to create the new device entry.
Next Steps¶
If your use of LightBurn Bridge is more complex than indicated here, you may need to take a look at our Advanced LightBurn Bridge Setup guide.
For more help using LightBurn, please visit our forum to talk with LightBurn staff and users, or email support.